7. Write about incidents in the early life of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar about caste discrimination.
Answers
Dr Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, popularly known as Babasaheb was born on April 14, 1891, in town and military cantonment of Mhow in the central provinces (now in Madhya Pradesh).
Today, the nation is celebrating this social reformer’s 127th birth anniversary with great zeal.
With his long and pragmatic vision, Ambedkar drafted the Constitution that makes India a great country and provides citizens with constitutional guarantees.
Born in a poor low Mahar (Dalit) caste, Ambedkar himself was a victim of the social evils since childhood days.
He was so oppressed that throughout his life, he campaigned to eliminate social discrimination against untouchables.
Ambedkar, who went to a government school, witnessed discrimination from a very young age. When he and his other untouchable classmates were thirsty, the people from the higher caste used to pour the water from a height so that they would not come in contact with the vessel. The school peon would do this for Ambedkar and when the peon was not around, Ambedkar had to go without water.
Due to his deep interest in learning, Bhim went on to become the first Dalit to be enrolled into the prestigious Elphinstone High School in Bombay.
He was the also the only one among his siblings to have passed his examinations and complete graduation.
Impressed by his performance, the Maharaja of Baroda funded his doctorate degree in Economics and Ambedkar became the first Indian to get an Economics doctorate from abroad.
He was later appointed as the first Minister of Law and Justice in 1947, but he resigned when his women rights bill was opposed by the Parliament.
The Article 370 of the Indian Constitution has accorded special status to Jammu & Kashmir, but Ambedkar was against Article 370.
Ambedkar was a diabetes patient and died in his sleep December 6, 1956, three days after he completed his manuscript— The Buddha and his Dhamma.
Dr Ambedkar was a reformer whose legacy and relevance continues to grow. His message of social equality continues to reverberate and resonate with passing time.